Forum:Pronunciation help, please!
Hey Folks, I volunteer for a group called Learning Ally, a reading service for blind and dyslexic learners, and have been assigned to narrate and record "Inheritance, Or, The Vault of Souls." There is a file with pronunciations at the end of the book, but this doesn't cover words I've encountered and have no idea how to begin to pronounce. I'm not going to "wing it," because I feel like that would be disrespectful to the material and to the listeners who are investing time and effort to enjoy this book. I have gotten through most of "In The Beginning" being able to use the pronunciation guide and Eragon Pronunciation Guide at Alagaesia.com, but there are still some words and names that I'm encountering that I cannot find pronunciations for. I would greatly appreciate any offers of help--let me know if you are up for the task, and I will include a list of words in a new post! Thank you, TheOldNarrator (talk) 00:58, December 28, 2014 (UTC) :Could you list some of the words you're having trouble with?--Wyvern Rex. (talk) 15:10, December 28, 2014 (UTC) ::Hi Wyvern Rex, Thank you for your reply! Here are the words I cannot find phoenetic pronuciations for: ::Hadarac ::Helzvog ::Vroengard ::Eldunari ::Osilon ::Shade Durza ::Helgrind ::Lethrblaka ::Az Sweldn rak Anhuin ::Morzan ::Solembum ::Menoa ::Rhunon ::Feinster ::Shade Varaug ::Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you for your time and effort! :: 18:04, December 28, 2014 (UTC) :::OK, any users of this wiki who would like to contribute their pronunciations are welcomed to do so. In terms of general advice, this is how to pronounce German umlauts (letters with a mark above like this "ü"): http://www.europa-pages.co.uk/lessons/german-pronunciation.html with further information here, acute accents (like "í") are discussed here (the information on Scandinavian use is probably the most relevant) and circumflex accents (like "û") are here. There is also a page on pronunciations in Swedish and Norwegian here. :::I'm not sure whether my pronunciations would be useful: I suppose that the closest thing to an "official voice" of the Inheritance cycle for many is audiobook narrator Gerard Doyle, who is considered to have got to grips with all of the various created languages. I can say that his audiobook reading of Inheritance can be obtained from Audible but I probably shouldn't mention that it's not especially difficult to find on Youtube in two parts. I hope this helps.--Wyvern Rex. (talk) 20:19, December 28, 2014 (UTC) ::::Many Thanks, Wyvern Rex! :::: 20:45, December 28, 2014 (UTC)The Old Narrator :::::Hi The Old Narrator, since German is my first language I'd like to put my two cents in regarding German umlauts. I think you should for example pronounce the name "Rhunön" as if it was spelled "Rhunon". The name sounds quite weirdly when you pronounce the "ö" as you would do in German language. In musik business the expression "metal umlaut" is well established. It describes an umlaut (as for example in "Motörhead") that looks great but means nothing. ;-) I think it's very likely that Paolini makes use of the very same stylistic device. --Weas-El (talk) 22:46, January 1, 2015 (UTC)